HIGHLIGHTS: USA & Arabs Have Alternating Roles||Nine Arab Foreign Ministers Discuss Saudi Initiative in Cairo||Mideast Conference Possible Only After Israeli Withdrawal From Palestinian Territories||STORY: Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said that Arab nations were ready to offer Israel a "total ceasefire" in exchange for its withdrawal from Palestinian self-rule areas.

Speaking after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers and representatives to follow up a Saudi peace initiative, and as Israel planned to launch a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip, Mussa said both the US and Arab positions were "clear".

The United States has "promised to work for an Israeli withdrawal from autonomous Palestinian zones in exchange for a total ceasefire on the Arab side and a return to the negotiating table," he said. The Saudi, Jordanian, Bahraini, Yemeni and Palestinian foreign ministers attended the first meeting of the committee to follow-up on the Saudi initiative endorsed in March at the Beirut-hosted Arab summit. Representatives from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Morocco also attended. Before the meeting, which lasted four hours, the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, also briefed the members of the committee about the results of Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz recent visit to the United States.

"While the Americans have the responsibility of checking the Israeli actions (against the Palestinians), the Arabs on their side have to assume a responsibility: to follow the road they chose at the Beirut summit," he said.

The committee also discussed the idea of a new Middle East peace conference, although Mussa said that an Israeli withdrawal from the self-rule Palestinian areas was "a precondition" to any such talks. 

PHOTO CAPTION

Arab League chief Amr Moussa warned the United States April 27, 2002 that Arab nations could take punitive steps, and perhaps even cut crude oil supplies, if it remained "blatantly biased" towards Israel. Speaking to reporters in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, Moussa said Arabs were feeling "humiliated, depressed and helpless" by the United States' policy in the Middle East but would not stand by and watch Washington let Israel stay "above international law." Moussa gestures on arrival in Damascus in this November 3, 2001 file photograph, to attend a regular meeting for Arab foreign ministers. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri-Files
- Apr 28 8:48 AM E